A Stoke-on-Trent pub has fundraised to install a bleed kit, believed to be only the second in the area.

Patrons of The Ashwood in Longton managed to raise the £1,000 cost in just three months.

Conversations originally took place to see whether it was possible to install a knife surrender box. There are currently no publicly available boxes in Stoke-on-Trent as all are located within police stations. 

However the install cost would have exceeded £10,000 and a specialist company would have been needed to safely dispose of the knives.

Now the Wood Street pub has decided to offer to store knives and dispose of them securely to prevent them falling into the wrong hands.  

Sharon and Jon Clarke have run the pub since 2012 and thanked customers whose support has funded the bleed kit, a defibrillator and numerous charity donations.

Landlady Sharon said: "It's not me and Jon, it's not us, we're just the building. It's people who come in regularly and put their hands in their pockets to buy raffle tickets, give raffle prizes, donate money and it's continually every single year we're raising money for something or other and nobody ever pulls a face.

"They just support us 100 per cent, this building 100 per cent. We've got the bleed kit now, we've got the defibrillator and none of that could happen without my customers.

"When you look at the pressure that the NHS is under at the moment, the wait times for ambulances. These things that we've got on the wall outside save lives. The NHS and the ambulance wait times mean these things are now necessary in communities, people need them."

Pub goer and knife crime victim Penny Howard, who was stabbed 16 times in a frenzied life-changing attack said: "I don't think people realise the impact knives have on people.

"I've been left with scars that are never going to go and I ended up with complications, so I ended with asthma through stabbing me through the chest, so it was life-changing. I think it's a good thing that they've done."

A bleed kit can be used to handle life-threatening bleeding and includes haemostatic dressings, trauma dressings, which are vital in an emergency. They allow action to be taken in the community in the event of a bleed before paramedics arrive.

The pub also has plans to deliver Christmas hampers to the elderly and vulnerable families and will be collecting canned and dried goods, along with small gifts for children to fill hampers. The Ashwood is located on Wood Street in Longton and is open daily.